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House Hunting is Where the Fun Is At: Adulting Hacks for the Nervous Freshman

There’s no place like your first home out of the dorms. Finding off-campus housing is a daunting task to take on, so here are my tips as someone who’s spearheaded a few searches.

1. Know Where You Want To Live — Are you cool with walking across campus to get to class? What about hearing loud, drunk people passing by at night? The only person who knows is you! Ask others about their experiences and make a list of what’s important to you.
(Photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org)

2. Know Who You Want to Live With — Living with your best friend might sound nice, but as every blog about college living warns, it could be disastrous. How upset will you be if they leave dishes in the sink or fail to take the garbage out? Think before asking or it could be a long, awkward year.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

3. Compromise and Decide — If you want a house and your potential roommate(s) are going for a high-rise, you’ll need to compromise or consider other people. Talk and narrow your search. You want your own room? Great. Your roommate wants a place that accepts cats? Awesome. Filters will make everything easier, just don’t be too picky. This is college living after all.

(Photo courtesy of Max Pixel)

4. Aggressively Schedule Showings — Research what’s available and make calls to set up appointments that you and your roommate(s) can all make. Schedule as many showings as possible in a small time frame. That way if there are several places you like, you’ll have a backup in case someone else takes your ideal home first.